ISBN 1-59507-077-X
Book Two of the Bobby Beckett-August Summers Series. What looks like suicide is really murder -- murder of a mysterious young woman, who was kidnapped and has been missing since the age of three. With the help of reporter August Summers, Detective Bobby Beckett's searches unravel the tangled web of treachery and deceit and more and more bodies are found. A thrill a minute page turner!
Click here to read the first three chapters: ArcheBooks
The eBook is available for $3.99. The hard cover will cost $21.74--25% off the cover price--when purchased through ArcheBooks. ISBN 1-59507-077X
Excerpt
Prologue
Dr. Elliott, who preferred just plain Claudia, first adjusted an overhead mike, announced the case number, then, “The body is that of a slightly underweight, malnourished female, age officially unknown, but could be early twenties, with light brown hair at the roots—bleached blonde, definitely beauty salon quality—and brown eyes. The body measures 66 inches in height, and weights 115 pounds. The victim’s flesh is unremarkable except for a brown mole three centimeters in diameter in the fold beneath her left buttocks, and a small, multi-colored, butterfly tattoo on her right shoulder.”. Recently administered. The surrounding area is still red and swollen.”
After this Claudia made a thoracic-abdominal incision from shoulder to shoulder, while she continued dictating about the lack of foreign trace materials on the body, the gunshot wound to the head and other details. The incision was then crossed over the breasts and the cut run down to the sternum. Bobby took a deep breath and fought the sensation of bile in her throat. The final cut involved a midline incision down to the pubic area. The body was being prepared for the laying back of the flesh and subsequent exposure of its organs for further testing.
When Claudia used a cutting tool to remove the ribs and cartilage that would expose the heart and lungs, Bobby glared back at Dan. He was standing near the door to the examining room, his face pasty-white. Not only was he nauseous from the autopsy proceedings, he suffered from a hangover.
By now Claudia was drawing a vile of blood from the heart for toxicology screening. Bobby turned back to Claudia and asked, “Anything on the prints from AFIS yet?”
“Damn! I nearly forgot. Yes. We received a report this morning. Just before you arrived.” Claudia walked away from the table and removed her gloves, then flipped through a file lying on a nearby metal counter. “Let’s see… Here it is. The victim was last fingerprinted back in 19844, at the age of three… Damn. I should’ve reviewed this before I dictated.” She gazed at Bobby, “That would make her twenty-two. It was done during Child Safety Week.” She continued reading. “Her name’s Alicia Ledenbecker. Hmmm. Father’s a retired cop.”
“What’s the victim’s last known location,” Bobby asked, wondering why there were no current prints on file.
“Hard to say,” Claudia remarked, frowning. “According to the report, she was kidnapped shortly after the prints were taken. Hasn’t been seen by her immediate family since.” She shook her head. “Where the hell was she all these years? Did she even know she was kidnapped? She was only three when it happened.”
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